Lord Bassam to repay travel expenses

Lord Bassam has been a Labour peer in Brighton for 20 years, but today he has come under fire after admitting it would have been ’more appropriate’ to have not claimed the estimated £6,400 a year he was claiming on travel expenses between 2010-2017.

Lord Bassam claimed the money for the travel costs of getting from his home in Brighton to London, despite the fact there is payment in his salary designed to cover travel expenses.

The main issue was that whilst Lord Bassam and other members of parliament are entitled to travel expenses of just over £36,000 a year, it is intended for overnight stay at residences close to the politicians’ place of work, whereas Lord Bassam simply claimed the money for black cabs and the train from Brighton to London.

A statement was released in which Lord Bassam was quick to insist that whilst he had done nothing illegal and followed rules laid down by the house of Lords’, he stated that ’waiving the right to such travel claims would perhaps have been a more appropriate response on my part’.

Lord Bassam went on to state he will not be claiming any expenses in this manner in the future and instead opt to ’use the office holders allowance to cover this cost.’